10 things we learned from MLS gameweek 16 of the 2017 season

Here are the ten things we learned from Week 16 of the 2017 MLS season.

1. Is Columbus’ Season Falling Apart?

It was a bad week for the Columbus Crew, who lost to Cincinnati in the US Open Cup and then were handily beaten by Atlanta on Saturday night.

This loss to Cincinnati was particularly stinging. The Crew played what amounted to a first-choice starting eleven, and were shut out in front of crowd three or four times as big as what would have shown up in Columbus. There’s an argument to be made that the Crew aren’t even the biggest club in their own state.

With the loss in ATL, the Crew have now lost six of their last eight games across all competitions, and won just three times since they put together a three-game win streak at the end of March.

Kekuta Manneh, the team’s major midseason acquisition, has barely played and is now injured. The defense is just as bad as it was last year, and blown leads continue to be a problem.

Manager Gregg Berhalter – who cuts a rather dour figure even in good times – left the Cinncinati game jawing with traveling Crew supporters, and there have been suggestions that he’s lost the locker room.

Berhalter has been Anthony Precourt’s guy in Columbus since he bought the team almost five years ago, and this is the first real test of his ownership. It will be interesting to see how he reacts.

2. How About Orlando’s?

Jonathan Spector’s stoppage time equalizer in front of The Wall on Saturday night aside, it was a terrible week for Orlando City.

First, the team was pretty well humiliated on Wednesday night – getting bounced out of the US Open Cup by NASL Miami FC in a game that was hardly even as close as its 3-1 score-line indicated.

Then, on Thursday, the club’s star player Cyle Larin was faced with a much more serious humiliation: arrest for a DUI after driving the wrong way on an Orlando highway with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit.

That news, in conjunction with the Open Cup loss, drew players a visit from club CEO Alex Leitão on Friday morning that was described by Alicia DelGallo of the Orlando Sentinel as “stern.”

Then on Saturday, the Lions blew 1-0 and 2-1 leads at home against the Montreal Impact, getting a late goal from Spector to salvage a point against a team that is tied for the fewest wins in the league.

About The Author

Abe Asher lives in beautiful Portland, Oregon. He fell in love with the intensity, stakes, and unrivaled spirit of football during the 2006 World Cup. Abe supports and covers the Portland Timbers locally, the USMNT nationally, and the American game and national team football at large for World Soccer Talk. Abe is on Twitter @abe_asher.

Atlanta United will have 4 regional telecasts through July 4, prior to the break for the Gold Cup.

Wednesday June 21: at DC United – FOX Sports South

Saturday June 24: vs Colorado – FOX Sports Southeast

Saturday July 1: at Columbus – FOX Sports Southeast

Tuesday July 4: vs San Jose – FOX Sports South

Atlanta United has been a model expansion franchise. It was able to capture young consumers in the inner city who have been abandoned by the Braves baseball team.

Atlanta United produces more TV than any other MLS franchise, with a 3-hour window for each match, plus 1 re-air after midnight and a 2nd re-air during the middle of the next day.

The pre-match show is first rate.

(The post-match show, especially on the road, has some issues. Post-match shows in generally are difficult to execute properly. )

Dan Gargan, despite being a rookie co-commentator/match analyst, is already among the top regional MLS analysts. He makes astute observations and he is improving his delivery with each telecast.

Brittany Arnold, the host/reporter, is improving each week as she learns on the job. She has improved considerably from her days at beIN Sports USA as the 3rd female host behind Kay Murray and Terri Leigh before she was let go a year ago.

Kevin Egan, when he did the first 5 telecasts, was solid, as you would expect, given his previous experience calling Chicago Fire matches before he landed at beIN Sports USA to replace Ian Joy 3 years ago.

However, Darren Eales has made his first significant misstep with Alan Green.

The play-by-play announcer is a brand ambassador.

Misidentifying goal scorers is bad for the brand.

Mispronouncing names is bad for the brand.

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One would expect Atlanta United to hire a spotter to be in the TV booth in order to help Alan Green as he learns MLS players.

Mr. Green’s mispronunciation issue can be fixed if Mr. Green takes the issue seriously to put in the time and effort to fix the issue.

The “too many words” issue, i.e. calling a match for “radio with pictures”, instead of TV, cannot be fixed easily. This issue will take time for Mr. Green to fix.

Mr. Eales and his broadcasting staff implemented changes prior to Wednesday’s telecast on the road from DC United.

1. Alan Green’s work load has been reduced. He did not appear on the pre-match and post-match show. For the post-match show, Brittany Arnold had to run from the pitch after her interview with Tata Martino to the booth to host with Dan Gargan providing his thoughts. A field producer (camcorder operator) now conducts the post-match show player interview from the locker room.

2. Alan Green is making a conscious effort to cut down his verbiage and is taking the name pronunciation issue seriously.

3. Alan Green identified all 3 goal scorers correctly on Wednesday night. I don’t know whether Atlanta United now has a spotter in the booth to work with Mr. Green, but having a spotter will help Mr. Green as he learns MLS.

Both Alan Green and Dan Gargan missed the offside call by the assistant referee and went after the referee for not awarding a penalty during the 28th minute. Everything happened quickly in the heat of the moment so the error can be excused.

One thing Dan Gargan needs to fix: offside in soccer has no “s” at the end, unlike American Football.

Brittany Arnold appears to me to be using translation software on her mobile phone to help her conduct interviews with Tata Martino. That is acceptable as the viewers know that Brittany Arnold is learning on the job and is putting in the time and effort. EVERYONE learns on the job in this business.

If you want a contrasting MLS regional telecast to compare to the Atlanta United broadcasts (in which all 3 broadcasters are learning on the job, including Alan Green who is struggling as he works to improve) on FOX Sports Southeast and FOX Sports South, you might want to watch the San Jose Earthquakes regional broadcasts on NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California.

The Earthquakes also use 3 broadcasters, but in different roles, as the Earthquakes only has a 2-hour window instead of a 3-hour window for Atlanta United.

1. Anthony Passerelli is the pre-match host and does play-by-play. Passerelli’s day job is at KCBS-AM Radio as a sports news anchor. His soccer announcing style is very similar to John Strong’s style: relatively low verbiage.

2. Former NASL San Jose Earthquakes player Chris Dangerfield is the match analyst/co-commentator in the booth. Dangerfield has lived in Silicon Valley for 35 years and the U.S. for 40 years after leaving England. He, not Passerelli, initiates all conversations with the touchline reporter.

3. Former US Women’s National Team and Santa Clara University player Danielle Slaton is the touchline reporter, field-level analyst, and half-time segment host. The Earthquakes use Slaton in a similar way NHL on NBC uses Pierre McGuire.

Having Slaton as a touchline reporter makes a big difference in the broadcast, as she is able to provide insights to the match in her conversations with Dangerfield in a way that other touchline reporters without her playing and coaching experience cannot provide. Dangerfield and Slaton are essentially conducting short coaching clinics (up to 1 minute in length) several times during each live broadcast as they share their observations of the match from two different vantage points.

Oliver – No one watches for the broadcasters. You are clearly fascinated by the on-air talent and other production aspects. That’s great. Perhaps you should be making these posts on a TV production-side website or forum, rather than WST.

We have a recap reviewing stoppage-time equalizers, promising young players debuting, long unbeaten streaks and other such interesting topics, and you are name-dropping an email you are sending to behind the scene folks because the brand new PbP’er mispronounced a syllable and misidentified a player and other such horrible ‘customer service’ (really? customer service?) issues.

It’s 6 (!) posts trying to forward your agenda when you already have a column. It might be time to actually watch some of the action on the pitch, than what’s happening in the booth.

Just remember – NO ONE is turning in or out over anything you mentioned., and even if they made the changes you want, it won’t add or take away viewers.